What is the secret to happiness? Can a web search help us find it? This morning we start webscotching with the phrase "Secret to Happiness". Impressed with the previous session I choose ask.com as the starting point again. Here we go...
I am surprised to see the first two results have the phrase "Secret of Happiness" instead of "Secret to Happiness". I know the search engines do ignore words to, of, in, on, the,etc..., but if there is an exact match available like one of the results that is shown on the page, I would think the exact match should be listed first. When I tried the "Advanced Search" end enter the phrase "Secret to Happiness" in the exact match field I get a slightly different result set but ask.com still returns results with "Secret of Happiness". Evidently the exact match option also ignores these words.
Stopping being picky about the exact words I continue scrolling down the search results page. Here is the link I find compelling to click:
The Secret of Happiness in 8 Words
It is not the exact phrase I searched but I think what makes it stand out from all the other links is the ending that says "in 8 words". You get the sense that you will get a concise answer. You hope that by clicking on this link you will find the secret to happiness told to you in a short sentence. So what did I get?
Well... The first impression was not good. The site looked like one of those sites that hawks those get rich quick schemes. The 8 words were right there though:
Tomorrow - Today - Live - For - Better - Working - A - While
Not making sense of these words and reading this sense under them: "What? You can't make sense of that? I gave you the words for free, but the correct order is going to cost you plenty...". I start to think yep, it is one of those sites that will ask me to pay to get some kind of ebook for $99.95. So ignoring the instructions to read carefully I quickly scroll down the page to find the 8 words in correct order:
"Live Today While Working For a Better Tomorrow."
There you have it: The Secret to Happiness in 8 Words. You also find an explanation in two paragraphs immediately following this sentence. I never went back to read whatever in between the scrambled and unscrambled versions of these words. Remembering that I alsmost bounced off the page immediately, the author could have done better if s/he did not play any word games and fill the page withh all the fluff. Anyways, at this point, I really don't think amount the wisdom here. It sounds pretty common sense. Not only that, it exactly is what we do on a daily basis. Well, I guess it still is important that we remind ourselves the basics on a daily basis. The truth is that the secret to happiness is very basic and there is no need to look for it in exotic places.
Still thinking the site will eventually ask me to sign up for something, I scroll down to find out "this article is an excerpt from the book Seven Secrets of the Millionaires" and continuing to play webscotch I click on the link which I will not put here because it is the link that asks you to buy the secrets. I immediately closed my browser finishing my game.
Hey! We go wherever webscotch takes us.
We are still a year and a half away from the presidential election. Candidates from both parties have already started their campaigns. I am not following that closely but they have already participated in at least a couple of debates.
I am curious to see how these candidates were able to position their websites on the search engines since they all talk about the importance of the internet. I would think the smart ones had done some kind of optimization so their campaign websites will appear in the search results even if their names are not in the search field.
So... Here is our next webscotch game: Enter into GOOGLE "The next President of the US".
The number one result is...
Well... How come it is presented as a question? Initially I don't feel compelled to click on this link and keep looking at other results. To my surprise, I don't see any other candidate's name or website listed on the first page. Forget the targeting or optimization, none of these guys thought to use the phrase "The next President of the US" in their websites. Unbelievable!
Looking back at the first link, I realized it is not linked to Ron Paul's website. Finding no link compelling enough to click on, not wanting to go to the next search results page, I decide to take my webscotching to another search engine: Ask.com.
I love the top of the page. Look at this:
Ask.com deserves kudos for this.
Although tempted, I do not select a candidate from the drop down menu to see his/her profile. Scrolling down I still can't find a link to a candidate's official web site. How pathetic...
Not willing to give up I click on the "Next" link to see the results on the second page. Still no links to a presidential candidate's site but the following link is compelling so I click on it:
DeLay: 'Hillary Will Be the Next President' - RightNation.US
It is a forum entry quoting To Delay from a Human Events excerpt dated 12/13/06:
Former House Majority Leader Tom DeLay said today that Sen. Hillary Clinton (D.-N.Y.) would be elected president in 2008 and would probably tap Senate colleague Barack Obama (D.-Ill.) as her running mate...
There you have it! My webscotching in search of "The next President of the US" took me a rightwing website quoting a conservative icon predicting a liberal icon Hillary Clinton will be the next President of the US.
So what did you expect the first word/phrase I would go webscotching?
Of course the word that inspired this site and the whole idea: "Hopscotch"
Let's start at YAHOO:
The second result on yahoo "hopscotch" search results page is
Hopscotch - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
Just seeing the word "wikipedia" made me want to click on the link. I did not even want to look down further. As far as the first result... It was from a website named streetplay.com which actually is a pretty catchy name but I cannot seem to remember the full wording of the result. Maybe it was not the word "wikipedia" that made me click on the second result. Maybe it was the word "free". Who knows... The rule says you click on the first link you find interesting and go on to the next site.
Here I am at the free encyclopedia, wikipedia, looking at the entry: Hopscotch. First I notice these big blue boxes warning me about the fact that this article needs additional references or sources for its verification and how it may contain improper references to self-published sources. OK! If you ever heard of wikipedia before none of this should be news to you. Then I get to the line that says "For other uses, see Hopscotch (disambiguation). Now I did not even think of other uses of the word hopscotch so I just click on the link: For other uses, see Hopscotch (disambiguation).
Well, what a let down the third click takes me... This page tells me that hopscotch may mean: a schoolyard game which I already knew, and then it lists couple of books and a film with the word "hopscotch" in their titles. None of these links makes me feel like clicking on them. Maybe I should have stayed longer on the previous page but hey this is how the game of webscotch played: Click on the first link you feel you gotta click on and don't look back.
This was the first webscotching game. I hope it gives you the idea what this is about. It is not only clicking through links on random web pages. It is about commenting on the pages and the links and the titles. It is about trying to understand why we click on what we click on.
Let's play WEBSCOTCH!
So what is webscotch you say...
It is playing hopscotch on the web.
Start with a simple phrase you enter in one of the major search engines, skim through the results, click the first link that grabs your attention and on to the next site... Browse the page, click again on the first link you find interesting and so on. You do this until you find no other links interesting enough to click on and close your browser.
Well... it sounds easy to do so far. Here at webscotch.com I document my journey through the web pages with my comments and opinions.
Let's venture into wild web and discover new and interesting web sites, uncover hidden web gems, gather more tools, tips and tricks, and play with the newest web technologies here.
Come hop around the web with me...
